Automatic wood shaper



Aug. 25, 1925. 1,551,178

M. A. STRAND AUTOMATIC WOOD SHAPER Filed Ma 27, 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 25, 1925. y 1,s51,17s

M. A; STRAND AUTOMATIC WOOD SHAPER Filed May 27. 1922 a Sheets-'ahoat z ,jbmzim/ Z jz'ili ilpwzlyd Aug. 25, 1925. 1,551,178

M. A. STRAND AUTOMATIC WQOD SH-APER Filed m 27, 1922 4 s Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Aug. 25, 1925. i a:

UNITED STATES orrica. j

PATENT MARTIN A. STRAND, OF NEW RICHMOND, WISCONSIN.

AUTOMATIC woon snnrnn.

Application filed May 27, 1922. Serial No. 564,203.

planers or shapers and provides an automatic cutter-l1ead-adjusting device espe cially adapting the planer for cutting, to proper shape, skis, paddles or similar wooden strips that have varying cross-sections, and, generally stated, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention applied to awood planer having an endless traveling bed and overlying yielding pressure rollers. The power-driven rotary cutting head is arranged to rise and fall and such movements are automatically imparted thereto by so-called template bars having the proper contour for causing the cutter head to cut the skis, paddles or other wooden articles to the proper thickness as they are being fed through the machine by the traveling bed.

The operation of the machine will be made clear by the description of its use in making skis. The wooden strips from which the skis are made will preferably be roughed out or cut to approximate outline either by a band-saw or by passing the same through the planer equipped with template bars designed for the roughing out operation. For the purposes of this case, we will assume that the skis have first been cut to such approximate form by either one of the above noted operations and will here describe the finishing operation performed in accordance with my invention. V

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

Fi 1 is a side elevation showing the complete machine;

Fig. 2 is a somewhat enlarged section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

machine so far described Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken approximately on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, some parts being broken away:

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken longitudinally through a portion of the machine on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective showing a table board equipped with the template bars and with means for holding a plurality of skis in position for simultaneous cutting;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 77 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective showing the ski after it has received its finishing'cut but before it has been bent.

Of the parts of the planer, the numeral 9 indicates the framework, the numeral 10 the machine bed in the form of an endless slat and chain beltthat runs over sprockets 11 and 12 carried, respectively, by shafts 13 and 14. The cutter head 15 is mounted on a floating shaft 16. The numerals 17 and 18 indicate, respectively, the front, and rear pressure rollers. Said rollers 17 and 18 and the cutter head shaft 16 are all journaled in the bracket-like upper ends of laterally spaced bearing plates 19 that are arranged to slide in slightly oblique guideways 20 on the sides of the frame 9. The shaft 16 is provided at its opposite ends with pulleys 21 driven by belts 22. The belts 22 run over driving pulleys 23 on an overhead power shaft 24. The power shaft 24 also carries a driving pulley 25, over which runs a driving belt 26. The belt 26 runs over a pulley 27 on a shaft 28 journaled in the frame 9. The shaft 28 is provided with a spur gear 29 that meshes with a spur gear 30 on the sprocket shaft 14, thereby transmitting motion to the end: less feed bed 10. The numeral 31 indicates a feed table adapted to deliver'the work to the planer and the numeral 32 indicates a receiving table adapted to. receive the work from the machine.

mercially well known wood planer and, so far as the present invention is concerned, may be varied.

However, the arrangement of the driving belts 22 on lines approximately at right angles to the lines of movements of the guide plates 19 is of considerable importance because it provides an arrangement in which The parts o-fthe: are those of a com- 1 vertical movements of the cutter head. such as produced automatically as hereinafter described, does not appreciably change the tension of said belts.

In applying my invention'to the above described machine, I place loosely journaled cutter-controlling rolls or wheels 33 on the cutter head shaft 16 immediately adjacent to the ends of the cutter head and these rolls are arranged to run upon template bars 34. The template bars 34 are laterally spaced and secured to the opposite sides of a portable feed table 35 that is adapted tobe placed on the endless feed table 10 and to be there-' by carried under the cutter head and pressurerolls 17 and 18.

For holding a plurality of skis Y in parallel relation so that they may be simultaneously presented to the cutter head, the feed table 35 is shown as provided with a transverse rear push bar 36 and a transverse frontend clamping bar 37. The bar 37 is notched to receive the pointed front ends of the skis and is adaptedrto be pressed against the same by a wedge block 38 interposed between the same and a slightly oblique abutment 39 in the form of a bar secured on the front portion ofthe feed table.

By reference particularly to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the'template bars 34, at their front end portions 3 L, are raised so that, acting on the rolls 33, they will hold the cutter head elevated and entirely out of cutting action. The extreme front ends of the template bar are tapered so that they will readily enter under the rolls 33. The numeral 40 indicates a hood that overlies the cutter head and is connected to a suction tube ll. Here it may be noted that the heads of the vertically movable bearing brackets 19 will engage the top of the frame 9 and prevent the blades of the cutter head from acting upon the slats of the endless feed belt when the feed table 35 and the work held thereby are removed from the plane-r. Again by reference to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the template bars 3l,

at the rear of their raised portions 34?, are very considerably depressed and that they rise slightly toward their longitudinal centers and then taper ofi' toward their rear ends, approximating in outline to that to be given to the'skis; Hence, as'th'e feed table and the skis'areicarried under the cutterhead and pressure 1*olls',{the cutterconthe skis the desired proper thickness. In

this way, accurate finishing of the skis to the exact desired form is made a certain and easy matter and enables high grade work to be done very rapidly and at small manufacturing cost. Obviously, in practice, a number of the portable feed tables may be used, so that these fee-d tables,-loaded with the skis, may be presented one after the other and run in a-continuous series through the planer;

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a wood planer having an endless traveling feed bed and a vertically movable cutter head, of a port able feed table manually applicable to and removable from said feed bed having means for holding wooden strips thereon, and template bars secured to said portable feed table and operative to raise and lower said cutter head to thereby determine the longitudinal contour of the wooden strips. i

2. The combination with a wood planer having an endless traveling feed bed and a vertically movable power-driven cutter head, of a portable feed table manually applicable to and removable from said feed bed having means for holding wooden strips thereon and provided at its sides with parallel template bars with raised portions in front of the wooden strips held on said table, said template bars operating to raise and lower said cutter head to thereby ceternrine the longitudinal contour of said wooden strips;

3. The combination with a planer having an endless traveling feed bed and a powerdriven rotary cutter head arrangedto freely move vertically and provided at its opposite ends with loosely jou'rnaled cutter-controlling rolls, of a portable feed table manually applicable to and removable from said feed bed having means for holding wooden strips thereon, and template bars secured to the opposite sides of said feed table and oper atlve directly on said cutter-controlling rolls to automatically raise and lower said cutter and thereby determine the longitudinal contour given to said wooden strips;

In testimony whereof I ai'iix my signature;

-' MARTIN A. STRAND. 

